Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1887-01-26

eI have you get aboard, but if you can fnd
only piece Of wood as long as the human
body, or piece as wide as the outspread
human arDs, and ether of them is piece
of the cross, come in on that piece. Tens
of thousands of people are to. day kept out
of the Kingdom of God because they canno,
believe everything.
am talking with man thoughtful about
1 his soul who has lately travelled through
New England and passed the night at An
dover. He says to me, 81 cannot believe
that in this life the destiny is irrevocabl,
fixed; l think there will be anelher opper-
tunity of repentance after DEATH say to
him, "My brother, what has that to d.
with you? Don't you realise that the man
who waits for annther chance after death
when he has good chance before death is
a stark fool? Had not you better take the
plank that is thrown to you now and head
for shore rather than wait for plank that
may by invisible hands be thrown to you
after you are dead? Do as you please. but
AS for myself, with pardon for all my sins
offered me now and all the joys of time and
eternity offered me now, l instantly take
them rather than run the risk Of such other
chance as wise men think they can peel of
or twist out of Scripture passage that has
for all the Christian Centuries been inter-
preted another way"
You say: 81 do not like Princeton theol-
egy, or New Haven theology, or Audovsr
theology" donot ask you on board either
of these great men -of-war, their portfolios
filled with the great siege-guus of ecclesias-
tical battle. But do ask you to take the
one plank of the Gospel that you do believe
| in and strike out for the pearl-strung beach
of Heaven.
| Says some other man. 81 would at tend to
| religion if was quite sure about the doc
| trine of election aud free agency, but thai
| mixes me all up." Those things used to
| bother me, but have no more perplexity
about them, for say to myself: "If | love
I am elected to be saved and if do not
love Christ and live bad life, will be
damned, and all the theological seminaries
of the universe cannot make it any di ffer-
ent." foundered a long while in the sea
of sin aud doubt, and it was as rough as the
Mediterranean On the fourteenth night
| when they threw the grain overheard, but
saw there was mercy for sinner, and
that plank took. and have been warming
| myself by the bright fire on the shore for
| three decades.
While am talking to another man about
his soul he tells me: 81 do not become a
| Christian because / do not believe there is
any hell at ALL" All! don't you? Dc all
the people, of all beliefs and ne beliefs at
all, of good morals aud bad morals, go
straight to happy heavenP Dc the holy
and the debauched have the same distinc-
tion? At midnight in hallway the owner
of a house and a burglar meet each other,
and they both fire, and both are wounded,
but the burglar died in five minutes and the
owner of the house lives week after, will
the burglar be at the gate of heaven wait
| ing wben the house owner comes in? Will
the debauchsd and the libertine go right in
| among the families Of heaven? l wonder if
Herod is playing on the banks of the River
of Lite with the children he massacred? /
wonder if Charles Guiteau and John Wilkes
Booth are up there shooting at mark :? /
do not now controvert it, although I must
| say that for such miserable heaven have
no admiration. But the Bible does not sayi
''Believe in perdition and be saved" Be-
cause all are saved, according to your the
ory, that ought not to keep you from loving
and serving Christ. Do not refuse to come
ashore because all the others, according to
your theory are going to get ashore. You
may have different theory about chemis-
try, about astronomy, about the atmosphere,
from that which others adopt, but you are
not therefore hindered from action. Be-
cause your theory of light is different from
others, do not refuse to open your eyes,
Because your theory of air is different you
do not refuse to breathe. Because your
theory about the stellar system is different,
you do not refuse to acknowledge the North
Star. Why should the fact that your the
illogical theories are different, hinder yoa
from acting upon what you know? If you
have not whole ship fashioned in the the
illogical dry docks to bring you to wharfage.
you have at least plank: "Some on bro
ken pieces of the ship"
"But don't believe ia revivals" Then
60 to your room, and all alone, with your
door locked, give your heart to God and
join some church where the thermometer
"But do not believe in baptism" Gene
in without it, and settle the matter after
ward. ''But there are so mauy inconsistent
Christians" Then come in and show them
by good example how professors ought to
act. "But don't believe in the Old Test.
ament." Then come ia on the New. s'But
don't like the Book of Romans" Then
come in on Matthew or Luke. Refusing to
come to Christ, whom you admit to be the
Saviour of the lost, because you cannot
admit other things. you are like man out
there in that Mediterranean tempest and
tossed in the Melita breakers, refusing to
come ashore until be can mend the pieces
of the broken ship. I hear him say, 81
won't go in on any of these planks until |
know in what part of the ship they Belong.
When / can get the windlass in the right
place, and the sails set, aud that keel.piece
where it belongs, and that floor timber
right, and these ropes untangled, will go
ashore. l am an old sailor and know all
about ships for forty years, and as soon as
can get the vessel afoat ia good shape
will come in." man drifting by on
piece of wood overhears him and says
"You will drown before You get that sdip
reconstructed. Better do as am doing
know nothing about ships, aud never saw
one before l came on board this, and can
not swim stroke, but l am going ashore
on this shivered timber" Tue man in the
ofing, while trying to mend his ship, goes
down. The man who trusted to the plank
is saved o, my brother, let your smashed
up system of theology 60 to the bottom
while you come i'll on a splinter ed spar!
Some on broken pieces of the ship"
You may get all your difficulties settled
as Garibaldi, the magnetic Italian, got his
gardens made. When the war between
Austria and Sardinia broke out he was liv-
ing at Caprera, very rough and uncultur-
ed island home. But he went forth with
his sword to achieve the liberation of Naples
and Sicily, and gave niue million people
free government under Victor Emmanuel.
Garibaldi, after being absent two years
from Caprera, returned and, when he ap-
preached it, he found that his home had by
Victor Emmanuel as surprise been Eden
| ised. Trimmed shrabbery had taken the
place of therny thickets, gardeus the place
of barrenness and the old roekery in which
he once lived had given way to pictured
mansion where he live in comfort the rest
of his days. And tell you if you will
come and enlist under the banner of our
Victor Emmanuel, and follow Him through
thick and thin, and fight His battles, and
endure His sacrifices, yon will find after
awhile that be has changed your heart from
jungle of thorny skepticism into garden
all aboom with luxuriantjo joy that you have
never dreamt of. From tangled Caprera
of sadness into Paradise of God!
do not know how your theological sys-
| tau, uapt ta piacoc II ho tbat va,,r